Saxo appoints Jeff Zorek as COO of Global Sales as expansion gathers momentum
Saxo Bank, the trading and investment specialist, has appointed Jeff Zorek as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Global Sales based in London and reporting to Matteo Cassina, Global Head Sales, Saxo Bank. In this newly created role, Jeff will be responsible for further aligning Saxo’s business model to the evolving trading landscape by helping institutions and private investors navigate through a significant period of change and opportunity for the industry.
Jeff joins Saxo with over three decades of financial services experience, managing businesses in securities trading, high speed electronic execution, risk management, clearance, settlement and financing at firms such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and most recently Nomura International, where he held the position of Global Co-Head of Prime Brokerage. Jeff holds an MBA from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Commenting on the appointment, Matteo Cassina said: “Jeff’s appointment is a significant step in our journey towards becoming a key financial markets facilitator for clients looking to adapt their business models to the new trading environment through access to liquidity, product innovation and scale. As a leader in innovation and trading technology, and an agile financial market facilitator, Saxo is uniquely placed to bridge the gap between traditional finance and fintech innovation.”
Jeff Zorek added: “Having worked for traditional investment banks for almost three decades, I was drawn by a combination of Saxo’s long history in trading innovation and truly multi-asset offering. Saxo has an impressive track record of evolving and diversifying its business to stay ahead in the trading innovation race. The range of what Saxo can do today, from developing a robo-advisory solution for retail investors and partnering with large asset managers to bring innovation to the marketplace, to providing access to liquidity through its prime of prime service is impressive and the potential is huge. I am thrilled to be part of the business at this exciting stage of the journey.”
Saxo has continued to attract top talent and has bolstered its global multi-asset trading credentials with a number of appointments from major financial institutions over the past 18 months. These include Søren Kyhl, who joined as from Danske Bank as Group Chief Operating Officer and is listed as a member of the Management Board, Peter Plester who joined from Rabobank to lead FX prime brokerage; Gerard Lelliott who joined from Deutsche Bank to lead Saxo’s prime of prime services offering; Alessandro Bressan, who joined from Deutsche Bank to lead Saxo’s global equities offering; and Alexander South who joined from Jefferies Bache bringing expertise in the listed derivatives space.